Golden Pipeline

Dedari, like Ghooli (site of No 6 Pump Station) and Gilgai (site of No 7 Pump Station), was not a town per se but a stop on the Eastern Railway.

Sometimes known as Benari, Dedari is no longer on the railway line since the standard gauge line was laid further north. On either side of it are other former sidings where the train no longer stops and whose names are now forgotten such as Ubuni or Lilliginni. There was a time (1905) when it was government policy that no farm should be more than 25 miles (40 km) from a railway, hence a proliferation of small sidings.

Dedari is the only exception to pumping station villages being occupied continuously by pumping station staff from 1903 until electric pumps, which had replaced steam pumps, began to be operated by remote control.

There were two occasions when No 8 was ‘mothballed’. It was bypassed in 1924 in an attempt to minimise the aeration of pumped water (see Deaeration of Water) and a full complement of staff was only required in 1939. Ironically, the outbreak of war meant a drop in the tonnage of ore treated in Kalgoorlie (hence less water was required) so it closed again from 1944 – 1949.

Because of its ‘mothballing’ No 8 might have been the inspiration for a delightful short story written about a fictional pump station. Whenever the inspector visited it he was delighted by the condition in which it was kept, how clean it was and how the engines shone. One day he made an unscheduled visit only to find the place empty – the boilers cold and the engines idle.

According to the story, the wily workers had discovered their particular pumping station could be bypassed. They still kept up appearances that it was in operation e.g. ordering equipment. Lengths of wood to fire the boilers would be delivered to the front and resold around the back. The only time the pumping station was in operation was when the inspector was due – no wonder it was in such a pristine state.